Ultima goes underworld

It might be a surprise for some, but two perhaps the best-regarded Ultima titles were spin-offs, which while technically impressive for the time, didn't quite manage to sell enough, at least not to turn the main series into a  copy of them. I am, of course, talking about the Ultima Underworld series, which placed Avatar in the 1st person game world instead of the top-down birds-eye perspective familiar from the main series.

A year, March of 1992 to be exact, before the groundbreaking 1st person shooter Doom shifted the face of gaming for good, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss was released by Origin. It was a game done by a small development team, who got little faith from the mother company, as it looked like what they were trying to do was near impossible, at least for the tech at the time.

The designer, Paul Neurath of Blue Sky Productions, later known as LookingGlass, was interested in trying to mix together an RPG game and a properly simulated world where things had a cause and effect, all in real-time 3D. Neurath was aiming to create a playable dungeon simulator, where things can be done in any order the player saw fit or discovered things. A major aspect was to allow the player to use the kind of strategies fitting to them, not just blindly doing what the designer wanted the players to do.

So, long before modern 3D games, the Ultima series was at it again, pioneering. The game objects, walls, floors and ceilings, had genuine texture mapping, surfaces had height differences and sloping surfaces. You could jump and look up and down. Textures even had transparencies. And there was a physics model, that allowed you to throw things, which then could bounce off the walls and other elements. During fights, you could swing or thrust depending on where your mouse cursor was and the longer you pressed the button, the harder you hit. Many of these were firsts for real-time 3D computer games.

The many creatures you meet during the quest are sprites, but there is a later Playstation release of the game, which actually has 3D characters. In a proper Ultima fashion, not all the monster creatures you meet are hostile. While you can go in all guns blazing, you have the option for a peaceful approach as well. And while the game is separated into several levels, you can freely move from level to level, solving quests and puzzles in any order you see fit. 

Ultima Underworld won several game of the year awards and is nowadays seen as a genuine classic. Not all the elements of it have aged, well, the controls especially feel a bit clunky these days, but in many ways, it heralded the modern 1st person RPG/action games. And in some ways, it still is a far more complex game than many modern games modelling themselves after Ultima Underworld.

The Stygian Abyss begins when Avatar is again transported to Britannia. This time the beacon of virtue ends up in the castle of a local lord, whose daughter has been kidnapped and he, obviously, believes the mysteriously appeared stranger at his doorstep has something to do with it. No matter how much Avatar pleads innocence, the lord sends the hero to the dungeons of Stygian Abyss to rescue his daughter as proof of innocence.

In the Ultima canon, the Stygian Abyss takes place somewhere around after the end of Ultima 6 in between Martian Dreams and the Savage Empire. Not that that has any great significance, as the game works perfectly fine as a stand-alone title. Besides the setting, it has little to do with the main series, just like the Worlds of Ultima games.

You could call Ultima Underworld a dungeon crawler with a twist. It takes the concept of 1st person dungeons that were a stable element of the older Ultima games and turns that into a real-time experience. The goal is to get to the bottom level of the abyss and defeat the demon Slasher of Veils, who is behind all the shenanigans.

In a surprisingly quick cycle, a sequel was released. In 1993 Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds hit the market. In the great scheme of things, it takes place a year after the events of Ultima 7: The Black Gate. Avatar, stranded in Britannia, is attending a soiree held by Lord British when the Guardian appears and imprisons the castle inside a blackrock gem.

The gem also functions as a portal to other realms controller by the Guardian. Avatar has to travel these odd lands to free the castle, but there are troubles within as well, as one of the quests in the castle is a traitor.

The developers pushed the tech presented in the first game forwards. Labyrinth of Worlds used the same engine, but it now looked even better, allowing a bigger view of the world and graphics quality was improved as well.

Just like its predecessor, Underworld II gathered rave reviews. It was seen as bigger and better, though, the short development cycle also meant, it wasn't as polished in some technical aspects, at least if you ask Neurath. It wasn't as groundbreaking as what had come before it, but considering how many new things Ultima Underworld brought to the table, it would have been impossible to innovate as much in such a short time it took to hammer the game together.

Narratively Underworld 2 builds more upon the aspect of multiple different realms. This narrative element was also brought into the main series when at the end of Ultima 7 part 2: Serpent Isle, the Avatar is banished to the world of Pagan by the Guardian.

Which of the games is better might depend on your preferences. The first game is more focused thanks to the encapsulated dungeon crawling experience, the second is trying to build something bigger on top of it, by having a bigger world and more narrative. Labyrinth of Worlds also feels even more like an Ultima game by having familiar characters, like Lord British, Iolo and Dupre, as well as the main baddie introduced in Ultima 7.

But no matter how you look at it, both of the games were groundbreaking, pushing the limitations of the technology of the era. Even with some aspects of the do seem and feel a bit rough now, it was, and is, an impressive feat that they even exist. What makes the titles even more impressive, is that not that many modern games can compete with them, despite how much the processing power of computers and consoles has improved. Titles like Skyrim are still in many ways in their baby shoes in comparison.

Despite the main Ultima series never taking a plunge in the direction of Underworld, the rest of the games industry did take notice. The early '90s was when 1st person games began their road to domination. Not only with 1st person shooters, but with many RPGs following suit as well. Only a handful of those followers are as fondly remembered as Ultima Underworlds are.

As for Paul Neurath and the Looking Glass Studios, well, before they went under, they hammered out a couple of more classics. One being the well-remembered Thief series, the other as well, or even better, regarded System Shock, which might be getting a 3rd instalment at some point with the 1st game being remade as well. Not too shabby of a legacy if you ask me.

In 2018 Neurath dipped his hands, under the banner of OtherSide Entertainment, in the Underworld by releasing a Kickstarted game Underworld Ascendant, which was meant to be a spiritual successor of the Ultima Underworld series. Sadly enough, the stars were out of alignment for that attempt and the end result was a critically panned buggy mess. Not having played it myself, I can't say more about it.

Considering that the in the works System Shock 3 is developed by the same company, I'd hold my expectations. System Shock remake, on the other hand, is in the hands of NightDive. How that one turns out remains to be seen, as their road hasn't been smooth sailing either.

For those wanting to experience the magnificence of Underworld, head on to GOG, from where you can get both of the games in a cheap compilation.